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File format
There are a number of file formats associated with : * 2DA format * BIF format * BIK format * DDS format * DLG format * DLLs and EXEs * GFF V3.3 format * KEY BIF V1.1 format * LUA format * LUC format * NCS format * NSS format * PNG format * QDB format * QST format * TheWitcherSave format Starting with the .BIF / .KEY file formats you can extract the individual data files from any source in the game. With the .GFF file format you can then read and modify most of those data files, repackaging them when you are done. The creature, conversation, door, encounter, item, merchant (store), place-able, trigger, sound and waypoint documents provide additional details about those specific object types and how to interact with the corresponding .2DA files. An article dealing with the locations of these files can be found on the Game layout page. 2DA format Files with extensions are two-dimensional arrays, or tables, or spreadsheets. did not introduce any change here; they are in exactly the same format as they were in NWN or KotOR. This means that you can use any one of the tools already available. The files are plain text, and the columns are delimited by whitespace characters (e.g. Space and Tab) with small tables a simple text editor will do. For larger tables however, I recommend some more serious tool, like Excel. The Excel method A piece of advice to Excel users: pay attention for the delimiter characters when you import the file into Excel the first time. Excel will detect either Space or Tab as a delimiter, but never both, so you will need to add the other as a delimiter to the import settings; while there, be sure to check the "treat consecutive delimiters as one" option, too. When you have saved your file the first time, remember that the character in the header (2DA v2.0) must be a Space! If it is a Tab, use Notepad or something to change that back to a space! After you have done this import/save hassle once, you do not need to do this ever again (well, not for the file you have updated, anyway). A simpler Excel method Simply do not save any Excel-specific formatting, use "Save as..." and leave things as Excel "sees" them, i.e. if it thinks it was a text file, then fine... whatever. When the pop-up asking you if you are sure you want to discard any Excel formatting is presented, just do not keep any. You will be asked again when closing the file, just do not and it works just fine. External links * Nwn2daTool, a Microsoft Excel workbook for editing, manipulating and creating files. BIF format BIK format Files with extensions are BINK movies. BINK movies are not specific to ; they are found in many modern games. Undoubtedly however, the best quality BINK videos I have seen to date are those in The Witcher. The movies were created by Tomasz Bagiński, known for his Academy-Award nominated short animation The Cathedral. BINK videos can be created and played back using the Rad Game Tools — meaning that if you download and install the RAD Game Tools (which are free), you can watch any BINK video simply by double-clicking on it. External links *RAD Game Tools DDS format Most of the textures in are in format (or Direct Draw Surface). To view them in the Windows Explorer you will need the DDS Thumbnail Viewer from Nvidia. But be aware, this application uses a lot of resources. If you just want to view them in a separate window, download the Windows Texture Viewer. To edit them, you need some plugins for the following applications: * Photoshop: Nvidia DDS plugin for Photoshop * Paint Shop Pro can use the same plugin as Photoshop. * The Gimp 2: DDS plugin for The Gimp 2.x DLG format GFF V3.3 format The Generic File Format ( ) is an all-purpose generic format used to store data in BioWare games. It is designed to make it easy to add or remove fields and data structures while still maintaining backward and forward compatibility in reading old or new versions of a file format. It is used in as well. Changes from v3.2 Language IDs: The Language IDs for LocStrings have been changed. The following replaces Table 2.2b in the Bioware GFF Documentation. this table was taken from file. LangIDs 17-19, 23-28 are marked as "Reserved". KEY BIF V1.1 format LUA format Files with extension are LUA scripts. scripts are not specific to ; you can find it in several modern games (e.g. in Far Cry). files can be created using any text editor. files can be compiled to binary format (see LUC format) using a compiler. The Witcher uses v5.0.3. External links *LUA programming language *LUA Forge; hosts and catalogs LUA projects LUC format Files with extension are compiled LUA scripts. See script in LUA format. When LUA files are compiled using a compiler, they become binary files — these binary files are the files you see in . files can be decompiled. I have used to do the job and I managed to decompile the majority of the files. However, it seems that can not handle some of the files in The Witcher: sometimes it gives an error, sometimes it totally crashes. Looks like an unfinished project — there is a bug report in their tracker about this. To quickly decompile all files, I have created a batch file containing the following commands — feel free to re-use it(note, how do you use it?): @echo off for %%f in (*.luc) DO LUADEC.EXE %%f > %%f.out External links * LUA programming language * LUA Forge; hosts and catalogs LUA projects * LUADEC; a LUA decompiler NCS format Files with extension are compiled NSS scripts. When files are compiled using a D'jinni, they become binary files — these binary files are the files you see in . NSS format Files with extension are NSS (Neverwinter Nights) scripts. scripts are not specific to ; you can find it in several modern games. files can be created using any text editor, and can be compiled to binary format (see NCS format) using D'jinni. QDB format QDB files are based on BioWare's Generic File Format ( ), and it is assumed that the reader of this article is familiar with . The main structure contains an (unused) " " field of type , and a "Quest" list of structures, each containing a which corresponds to a file name. QST format TheWitcherSave format Category:File Formats Category:The Witcher technical aspects Category:Modding de:Dateiformate Category:Pages with tables